2-Year Forest Service Grant Supports WW Furniture Program!
From just about any vantage point in Los Angeles, including the Skid Row neighborhood where most of our clients live, you can see the stunning snow capped peaks of the San Gabriel Mountain range and the sprawling Angeles National Forest. Despite this proximity, the disconnect between the urban experience and the surrounding forest is pronounced and inequitable.
A new grant from the US Forest Service helps Would Works connect the people residing in the most densely populated and tree poor neighborhoods in LA with the diverse urban forest and thriving surrounding woodlands.
We are thrilled to announce a new $50,000 two-year Wood Innovations Program grant for our LA TIMBER BRIDGE project proposal. This funding supports our existing Community Builders Program which trains and employs housing insecure LA residents in furniture design and fabrication for outdoor communal spaces around LA.
In addition, Would Works staff and Artisans will work with the Angeles National Forest to acquire felled trees from wildfire prevention projects in the urban/rural interface around LA. These trees will be milled and seasoned by the urban sawyers at Angel City Lumber in LA to produce sustainable lumber for Would Works' products and upcoming outdoor furniture line.
WW Artisan Lead, Shirley, sitting on the newly completed outdoor bench, made from a felled Eucalyptus tree from LA, for the Willowbrook Supportive Housing Site.
LA TIMBER BRIDGE provides employment and job training for people experiencing poverty, creates sustainable wood furniture for people who are transitioning out of homelessness, and bridges the gap between urban communities and the surrounding wildlands.
We are grateful to the US Forest Service for recognizing our work and we look forward to this exciting partnership.
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Nick Offerman Partners with Would Works to Empower At-Risk Angelenos Through Woodworking
Nick Offerman has partnered with Would Works, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that teaches woodworking skills to at-risk Angelenos. These skills can lead to careers in industries like construction, set-building, and carpentry.
Beyond woodworking, Offerman highlights the “incredibly benevolent and warm humanism” at the heart of Would Works. "We're giving people … mental health, counseling, job counseling, life coaching. It's a place to say, 'Come on in, I see you, I care about you, I recognize the trouble you might be having. Here's a sandwich, here's a bowl of soup. Now, this is a hand plane,'" Offerman said.
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